Family Advent Activities for counting down to Christmas

Replace 24 small gifts in the Advent Calendar with small notes, each note revealing todays activity. Nothing is more precious that spending time together and all of these ideas will get you and your family into the Christmas spirit. From December 1st until Christmas Eve!

Creating 24 ideas of activities that would suit your children depends highly on the age group of course. The Advent Activity Calendar will be shared between siblings as all activities are meant to be done together anyway.

So here goes, from 1st of December…

1. ‘Create the scent of Christmas’
Make your own spiced orange pomander ball. Decorate a large orange with 24 cloves and hang it up in your kitchen window using a red gift band. Remove one clove each day, up until Christmas. It looks decorative and it naturally scent your home for the festive season. Each child (and adults if they want to) can have their own.

2. ‘Time to do Christmas Crafts’
Make or decorate a Christmas wreath together and hang it up on your front door. If you make more (if everyone would like to make their own) you can hang them up around the house as decoration.

4. ‘Christmas Bake Off!’
Bake and make Christmas cookies and sweets. Make sugar roasted almonds ‘brente mandler’ and caramel ‘knekk’ – store in large jars as well as filling a few smaller gift jars. Bake and decorate gingerbread men. Store in large tins and add some to small cellophane gift bags.

5. ‘The more the merrier’
Host a gløggparty with family and friends. Prepare festive nibbles and drinks, set up a christmas cookie decorating workshop in your kitchen, put on some festive tunes and wait for your guests to arrive.

6. ‘Storytime and 2. Sunday in Advent’
Read or tell your favourite Christmas Story. Flickering candles, knitted throws and crackling fireplace and some ‘førjuls hygge’.
In the evening: Light the second candle on your Advent wreath or Advent Candle holder.

7. ‘Write Christmas cards’
Make, write and post Christmas greeting cards to friends and family. Tasting of the sugar roasted almonds made on 4th is essential snack accompanied by some gløgg.

9. ‘Christmas Wish list’
Let everyone in the family write a wish list to santa. And I’m sure Santa doesn’t mind sharing your kids lists with the grandparents before we seal the envelope send it off to the North Pole.

10. ‘Tidy and clean’
Give the whole house including the kids bedrooms a good scrub – everyone can join in. When spotless and fresh, decorate their rooms with fairy lights, reindeer figurines and perhaps a small christmas tree (if they are old enough to understand it is purely decorative and not food or a toy)?

11. ‘The Spirit Of Christmas’
Set up and run a stall, selling homemade Christmas cookies in aid of Shelter. 100.000 children will be homeless this Christmas. All donations will help – The spirit of Christmas is the spirit of giving.

13. ‘Happy St Lucy’s Day’ and 3. Sunday in Advent
Celebrate St Lucy’s Day by watching the parade in a nearby Swedish church, or celebrate at home with Lussekatter
In the evening: Light the third candle on your Advent wreath or Advent Candle holder.

14. ‘Christmas Shopping’
Make or buy Christmas gifts that are personal and thoughtful. Planning is a key. Then having the time to source what’s needed. And wearing reindeer antlers or a bright red santa hat whilst doing it is absolutely fine. When needing a break sit down and enjoy a hot drink and something savoury – may we suggest a visit to the Nordic bakery if you are around Oxford Circus.

15. ‘Santa’s workshop’
Get out colourful paper, glittery bands, small decorative ornaments, fresh pine branches and pinecones. All at work in Santa’s workshop; cutting paper, wrapping up gifts and writing thoughtful small greetings on gift tags.

16. “Theatre tickets’
Get ticket and watch the Nutcracker Ballet or a pantomime on stage.

17. ‘Mini Christmas Gifts’
Give a jar of cookies or a box of chocolates and a homemade Christmas card to neighbours and others that we care about in our community.

18. ‘Build a Gingerbread House’
Bake, assemble and decorate your very own Gingerbread House. Invite friends around and have a baking party together. And whilst the kids overload the houses with M&M’s and Marshmellows – why not serve up a hot drink in mugs, decoated with mini gingerbread houses? We found this ‘how to’ on Juliette Laura blog

19. ‘Baking Extravaganza’
The tradition is no less than seven types of cookies for Christmas. We usually bake sirupsnipper, pepperkaker, peppernøtter, serinakaker, krumkaker sandkaker and kanelpinner. The different types of dough should probably have been made the day before and be fridge cold before you start. Expect a messy kitchen!

20. ‘Shoe box with love’
Fill a shoe box of Christmas coffee, tea, soups and biscuits for your local charity. We support the Simon Community.
In the evening: Light the fourth candle on your Advent wreath or Advent Candle holder.

21. ‘Make Christmas Decorations’
Make Christmas decoration of paper, cones and glitter. Little angels, santas, stars and hearts to hang on the Christmas tree or in the windows.